Changes in Dress Code: Two Sides of the Same Story

Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like.

Email This Story

Send email to this addressEnter Your NameAdd a comment hereVerification

To begin, the new dress code policy states that male students can have facial hair as long as it is groomed. However, what “groomed” really is could differ between people, as how something looks and is supposed to look is typically objective.

This is a significant policy for all male students because it gives the freedom for us to express who we are in a way that the dress code used to prohibit.

Arguably the biggest reason for the need of this policy is maturity. It’s due time that the school board trusts students to be mature enough to choose how they should look and not limit students based on “distracting” facial hair.

Still, let’s not abuse this privilege by pushing the limits of what the school thinks is acceptable. While opinions of groomed and ungroomed may vary, it’s best to use your best judgement while growing your facial hair out. Besides, ungroomed hair won’t be a distraction so much as an annoyance.

Changing the beard ruling in the dress code has been a big win for guys this year, so let’s not ruin it for the students yet to come.

~~~

It’s hypocritical for Rockwall to allow guys to have beards while girls’ dress is still harshly limited. The new beard policy was announced over the summer, but new dress code rules prohibiting any athletic shorts on girls and changing the ripped jeans rule were kept out of the news. These unannounced rule changes are being enforced in our school, regardless of ignorance.

One of the most controversial dress code rules are the rules prohibiting tank tops. We all know what the reasons are: “Shoulders are distracting.” But how distracting is a shoulder really? I find a patchy goatee more of an eyesore than a girl’s bare shoulder in a shirt she wore to keep cool when it’s 90 degrees outside. It’s not like anything else can be seen or done by shoulders.

It’s clear that guy’s have it easier in the way of dress code. After all, it’s girls who keep up with trends, which, right now, includes athletic shorts, ripped jeans, and cold shoulder tops, all of which are prohibited. It can be hard to find a shirt that is completely in dress code because stores have out what the trend is, and, in a place like Texas, those trends include ways to keep cool while being fashionable. This results in off the shoulder dresses and shirts being some of the only things you can find in a store.

The dress code should not tip in the favor of male students, who get far more breaks than the girls do. To present a change to the male student body, but change the female dress code to be harsher shows a clear bias in the school board.